Photonic Systems Brown Bag Seminar Series

Thursday, March 16, 2006, at 12 noon           RLE Haus  Conf. room 36-428

Applications of Semiconductor Nanocrystals in Sol-gel Derived Microcavities

Yinthai Chen

Semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) are unique as chromophores due to their
size-dependent emission and continuous absorption profile at energies higher
than their band-edge.  We exploit these optical properties of NCs in the
context of sol-gel derived microcavities, resulting in applications that range
from biological imaging to lasing.  We then show how the inherent stability of
the sol-gel derived host matrix allowed us to discover stimulated emission from
multiexcitonic transitions within the NCs. A brief overview on the fabrication
methods and intricate chemistry of interfacing NCs with sol-gel derived
structures will also be given.